Cadillac News: Commemorating 20 Years of V-Series Performance

[G. David Felt]

20 years ago, Cadillac made a bold move coming out with their V-Series of performance sedans that according to Global Vice President of Cadillac Rory Harvey continues to resonate well with customers.

Quote: “From the racetrack to the road, V-Series has transformed Cadillac and helped redefine performance luxury for thousands of enthusiasts. Over the next 12 months we will celebrate V-Series with a number of significant moments.”

New products and features commemorating this 20th anniversary of V-Series are planned over the coming 12 months with information that will be released throughout this period of time according to Cadillac.

The 2004 CTS-V was developed on the racetrack and previewed on Germany's famed Nürburgring circuit. This was the start of 13 V-Series sedan, coupe, roadster and SUV models to follow. Every generation of V-Series has benefited from the performance technologies and learnings of 20 years of racetrack winning.

2004 CTS-V Race Car

March 2004 with a race debut at the Sebring International Raceway was the official launch of the Cadillac V-Series performance sub-brand. This finished out the day with their subsequent first win of the CTS-V.R race car in the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge GT race. This symbiotic relationship of racing is directly tied to the road vehicles they influence, and customers are buying today.

Generation 1 V-Series 2004

Generation 2 V-Series 2009

2011 Cadillac CTS-V.R racing Coupe

Generation 3 V-Series 2016

Generation 4 V-Series 2019

Today’s lineup includes the CT4-V and twin-turbocharged CT4-V Blackwing, the CT5-V and the supercharged CT5-V Blackwing, and the supercharged Escalade-V. With 682 horsepower (508 kW), the Escalade-V currently wears the crown of Cadillac’s most-powerful production model ever, while the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing models offer the ultimate balance of road-going performance luxury and track capability.

Brandon Vivian, executive chief engineer, Cadillac stated the following: “Our championship-winning race team brings an uncompromising eye for detail that is channeled into every production model.” “The result are vehicles that weave power, craftsmanship and innovative technologies into engaging, involving driving experiences.”

2023 Cadillac V-Series.R kicks off the 5th Generation

The 20th year of V-Series is also a big one for Cadillac Racing, which has expanded with the all-new, electrified Cadillac V-Series.R prototype race car competing internationally in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. The Cadillac V-Series.R represents the start of the fifth generation of V-Series.

V-Series Cadillacs continue to benefit now and into the future from the performance technologies and learning on the racetrack.

Cadillac implies that their customers will not be disappointed as they move into the EV future.

Celebrations kick off at this year's SuperSebring endurance races and includes a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Cadillac racing.

View full article

[smk4565]

1.  Cadillac needs more V-series crossovers, something like 70% of the market is truck/crossover, so have to do V-series SUVs because sedans and coupes are dying.  I still like cars, but that isn't where the market is.  EV switch may make that easier since they won't be saddled with GM corporate FWD platforms that can't handle power.

2.  Got to get the Formula 1 deal done with Andretti.  Come 2026, Porsche and Audi will be in F1 (which is gaining in popularity) and Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine/Renault are already there.  So if Cadillac wants to be prime time, have to go race those guys.   BMW should come back to F1 too.

[G. David Felt]

28 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

1.  Cadillac needs more V-series crossovers, something like 70% of the market is truck/crossover, so have to do V-series SUVs because sedans and coupes are dying.  I still like cars, but that isn't where the market is.  EV switch may make that easier since they won't be saddled with GM corporate FWD platforms that can't handle power.

2.  Got to get the Formula 1 deal done with Andretti.  Come 2026, Porsche and Audi will be in F1 (which is gaining in popularity) and Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine/Renault are already there.  So if Cadillac wants to be prime time, have to go race those guys.   BMW should come back to F1 too.

Cadillac has been vague, but clear that V-Series will stay with the ICE Cars and Escalade as a last Hurray. Future is EV and with that, V-Series will be farther spread across the portfolio. 

One can take that to imply that yes the cars and SUVs will have V-Series. Will be much easier to do in an EV than ICE at this point.

Rather they continue their push with F1 racing and other forms of racing to perfect the technology and then push it into their performance EVs than on ICE.

[smk4565]

22 minutes ago, David said:

Cadillac has been vague, but clear that V-Series will stay with the ICE Cars and Escalade as a last Hurray. Future is EV and with that, V-Series will be farther spread across the portfolio. 

One can take that to imply that yes the cars and SUVs will have V-Series. Will be much easier to do in an EV than ICE at this point.

Rather they continue their push with F1 racing and other forms of racing to perfect the technology and then push it into their performance EVs than on ICE.

CT5 and CT4 might be the last Cadillac cars.  Buick has no cars, Chevy is down to Malibu, Camaro and Corvette and rumor is Malibu and Camaro could both die off, but I rear Malibu might get another generation too.  But I wouldn't be surprised if the Corvette is the only GM car come 2030, so they better build V-series SUV's.  I forgot Celestiq, that will probably still be around in 2030, but they need a V-series of that.

[G. David Felt]

10 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

CT5 and CT4 might be the last Cadillac cars.  Buick has no cars, Chevy is down to Malibu, Camaro and Corvette and rumor is Malibu and Camaro could both die off, but I rear Malibu might get another generation too.  But I wouldn't be surprised if the Corvette is the only GM car come 2030, so they better build V-series SUV's.  I forgot Celestiq, that will probably still be around in 2030, but they need a V-series of that.

Cadillac has stated they will have cars, this year we get the Escalade EV, the XT6 equal EV and the first EV Car for the brand as a CT replacement.

[riviera74]

Malibu can say good bye.  No one will miss it.  Does anyone really miss a GM small car?

As for the V-series, I am not sure which crossover could be made for a V-series.  It seems that it would best belong in the CT4 and CT5, at least for now.  As for the new EVs, we can wait and see.

[smk4565]

59 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Malibu can say good bye.  No one will miss it.  Does anyone really miss a GM small car?

As for the V-series, I am not sure which crossover could be made for a V-series.  It seems that it would best belong in the CT4 and CT5, at least for now.  As for the new EVs, we can wait and see.

The Malibu sucks for sure, but I don't know if it is a good strategy for GM and Ford to totally give up on cars, because once competition hits their SUVs, they'll cancel some of them, like Ecosport is dead, Edge is supposedly dying.  Explorer sales are half now what they were 20 years ago.  And Tesla hasn't even hit the mass market brands hard yet which is about to happen, by 2030 Tesla will be outselling Ford and GM.  

Which is why GM, Ford, Cadillac especially need killer product.  Cadillac could do a Lyric V-series right now, what are they waiting for?  Other than they have no production scale, but assuming the factory was actually making them, they should have V-series of that.

[G. David Felt]

As I posted in the random thread, Cadillac accidentally leaked before correcting the website that a V edition of the LYRIQ is coming this year.

Internal Leak Suggests Cadillac Lyriq-V Is Coming For 2024 Model Year (cadillacsociety.com)